Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Cash Cows

In France some people are adding cows to their investment portfolios. I suppose that in protectionist France, this is a pretty good idea as demand for French dairy products is pretty stable. But I wonder if this makes any sense in a United States that imports so much of the milk and beef products that it consumes.

4 comments:

On this topic I feel the urge to defend Europe. The US is equally protectionist as the EU, if not more. It may not pertain to the field of food but certainly does to a whole range of other products. This to benefit american manufacturers, the EU in turn responded the same, by barring or rather instituting a high and punitive import/export tax. It is illegal for EU-countries to set up trade barriers within the union but all are obliged to follow decisions made by the european parliament. Think what you want of trade wars, but trade is unilateral.

JessikaThis stuff is complicated. I probably should not have brought it up. However, since I did bring it up I have to respond.

All I was trying to do, was point up how different the US and France are. I was not trying to make any judgment about which system was better than another. I suppose that using the word "protectionist" to characterize the attitude of France (not EU, mind you; EU I think is pro-globalization) was incendiary, but I was not trying to drum up trouble.

Depends then what you mean with protectionism. All countries protect something or other. In the EU there are foods that are name-protected. Parmesan-cheese can't be sold under the name parmesan unless it actually IS parmesan, same goes for a number of foods. MY point was that the EU usually moves as one. If France goes for business protectorates, the rest of Europe and EUs governing body would be/is highly informed of the matter and most likely EU-countries carry their own prohibitions. And I wasn't taking your post to be incendiary. I am not much of a political being, except when it comes to food policis. I actually own 2 piglets at the free range piggy farm. It is still new though to "invest" in small-range farming, this making animal welfare a priority.